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Chapter 3: The Library
The Librarian’s heart raced after her trip into the city. She’d met with her contact as planned but there were others waiting. She picked up the black smooth disc and looked at it close. The disc must contain something important if people would kill for it.
She was told to just guard the disc and await further instructions but her curiosity was pressing her. What was she risking her life for?
- Place the disc in a chest 25%
- Try to read the message 75%
She sighed and shook her head. Information was her passion. She couldn’t set the disc aside without knowing what secrets it held.
Her mind made up, The Librarian walked out of her office and amongst the book shelves to research the best way to unlock a psychic store.
Hours passed, night settling as the Portal in the sky shifted to a light-rimmed ring in the air.
The answers were laid out before her in a dusty tome. There were two options. She could get an impression of the message and leave it intact or a full reading, destroying the disc.
- Non-destructive reading 50%
- Destructive full reading 50%
Determined to hand the disc to her contact undisturbed, The Librarian decided to just glimpse the message and preserve the item. She breathed deeply and focused on the specified arcane shape. Lifting the disc to her forehead she projected the shape into the artifact.
Something was wrong. The images projected into her mind were too vivid. Were not just an impression but were a compulsion. The disc didn’t just contain a message – it contained orders!
She saw a face. A young girl. Protect the girl.
It hurt.
- Rip the disc away 50%
- Endure the pain 50%
She tried desperately to rip the disc from her forehead but to no avail. She gritted her teeth to bear the pain as images of the girl sliced into her mind.
She felt a pull. A need. A desperate need to find the girl and save her from something. An unknown threat.
Finally the disc came free. It had split in two. She shook her sweat-covered head in frustration. This was something she’d never explain away to her contact.
A sharp pang hit her chest. A sense of urgent panic to find the girl.
The Librarian held her head in her hands.
- Leave & find the girl 60%
- Stay & face her contact 40%
Along with the compulsion to find the girl, The Librarian was left with an impression of direction & distance. Not North or South but Up. Past the Portal, on the Other Side. Where the World curved up and over itself, where at night the lights of cities distant twinkle in the sky.
She took up her Grimoire and placed it over her shoulder on its leather strap, as well as her bag of Tools.
She hadn’t ever been as far as the Other Side. Not even quarter of the way around. She could Portal East of Magran Forrest or West to the city of Harn. No further.
- East to Magran Forrest 25%
- West to the city of Harn 75%
She paused, went to her desk and took out a pouch of heavy coins. Patting her cloak to ensure she had her wand brace attached, the Librarian made the needed hand gestures, pushed her palm forward and opened a gate to Harn, the capital city of Vrin and her place of training.
*Note: correction made to geography, following completion of the Atlas*
Two days passed and a slender shadow slipped through the Library window. There had been no answer at the door and no sign of any movement, in or out. The shadow felt the air in their search and Knew that a portal had been used. They sensed the destination.
- Chase the Librarian 70%
- Report back to HQ 30%
The figure used the Knowing again to check the destination of the Librarian’s portal. Just three days away.
They gripped the long, black haft of a blunt obsidian blade, briefly sharpening to a razor edge as the shadow grimaced. They slipped out of the window, heading West.
Inverse Worlds 